Turpin in The Sound Era
The year 1929 saw many silent-film stars uncertain about their future employment, with the new talking pictures requiring new skills and techniques. Ben Turpin chose to retire. He had invested his earnings in real estate, and being highly successful at this, had no financial need for more work. Producers soon sought him out for gag appearances in films. He commanded a flat fee of $1000 per appearance, regardless of whether it was a speaking role or a fleeting cameo. Among the most memorable of these cameos was in Paramount's Million Dollar Legs (1932) starring W. C. Fields, Jack Oakie and Susan Fleming.
He starred in only one more short subject, Keystone Hotel (Warner Bros., 1935), a two-reel reunion of silent-era comedians. Turpin's speaking voice, incidentally, was a gritty rasp that retained elements of the New Orleans "Yat" accent of his youth. His last film role was in the Laurel and Hardy film Saps at Sea in 1940, in which his cross-eyed face served as a joke punchline. He was paid his $1000 for one quick shot of his face and just 16 words of dialogue.
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